Manchester’s textile industry was only made viable by the forced de-industrialisation of the subcontinent, made possible by a combination of extreme tariffs on Indian textile exports in British-occupied ports and incredibly low-priced British textile products that It was itself heavily subsidized by slaves for growing cotton.
develop
Empire not only exploited economically, but demanded a radical transformation of the natural environment.
During British rule, the subcontinent’s share of world manufacturing exports fell from 27% to 2%, which Shashi Tharoor describes as “the first great deindustrialisation of the modern world”.Page. 5).
This deindustrialization completely transformed its landscape by causing a large number of skilled manufacturing workers to be forced into agriculture on a scale that the land could not bear.
in 1853 essay on british rule in indiaKarl Marx described the same event, referring to a devastating Self-sufficient village system Agriculture at the hands of “British Steam and British Free Trade”.
Historian David Gilmartin describes “the dramatic environmental changes that shaped the Indus Valley in the heart of Pakistan today during the colonial era” as “one of the world’s most significant environmental changes of the 19th and 20th centuries”.Page. 289).
He points out that the western part of Punjab, which was established during the colonial era to meet growing agricultural needs “today provides Pakistan’s agricultural heartland”, was “unsettled even at the height of the Mughal Empire” (p. 291).
Converting land use to agriculture is not a neutral thing. Said Muhammad Ali, on the pakistan express forumwhich describes how the agricultural needs of the British Empire led to ecological destruction.
The “large-scale irrigation scheme initiated by the UK” resulted in “radical damming and diversion of irrigation… [which has] disrupt the natural flow of the river.”
Intensive land use and agricultural practices make a big difference Contributors to Flood Riskhas undoubtedly exacerbated Pakistan’s current susceptibility to flooding and thus the current crisis.
Not only did Pakistan have one of the smallest greenhouse gas emissions per capita at the time, but British colonialism — by systematically plundering its wealth and resources and massively reorganizing its natural environment — made it more vulnerable to climate impacts.
inertia
The international community has been failing on climate justice. The richest nations have so far refused to play a role in the crisis: a pledge made during the 2009 climate agreement that the richest would provide developing countries with $100 billion a year in climate finance to help tackle the climate crisis and adapt to the climate crisis.impact still never met.
So it is not surprising that the British government’s response to Pakistan has been in favour of charity over justice, despite its historically heavy responsibility.it provides to Match public donations and give away a paltry £15 millionwhich is pitiful considering the loss and damage to Pakistan is estimated to be at least $10 billion.
As one of the first events of a national climate collapse, how countries responded to the floods in Pakistan, and its urgent need for international solidarity, is likely to set a precedent for future climate crisis management by the international community.
For those concerned with climate justice, this should be a cause for concern: the international community’s response to the floods in Pakistan has been apathetic.
This must be a wake-up call for climate activists.also Fast decarbonization at homewe need to reshape and re-express our demands for international solidarity, starting with Pakistan’s crisis response.
These floods rightly prompt calls for Pakistan’s debt will be cancelled, so that its resources can be used to deal with the impact of the disaster. Beyond that, we need to articulate the need for reparations to combat climate colonialism.
compensation
Through its empire and elsewhere, Britain has spent centuries reshaping the natural world in order to extract wealth and resources in good time, leaving a legacy of irreparable murder, theft, exploitation and environmental destruction.
What we can do, however, is to call for compensatory justice on the same scale as Britain’s historic harm.
In the short term, we must demand climate compensation from Pakistan to fully restore the daily lives of all those affected by these floods, and support climate adaptation efforts to mitigate the impact of the country’s future ecological crisis.
For the foreseeable future, we need to build a Global Green New Deal Can change our economy, wipe out colonial capitalism, and rebuild the world.
this author
Minesh Parekh is a Labour and Co-operative MP for Sheffield and organises the Green New Deal with Labour. He tweeted @my_esh
